Does agricultural cooperative membership influence off-farm work decisions of farm couples?

Membership in agricultural cooperatives may influence intra-household decisions regarding the division of household labor. However, the linkages between cooperative membership and labor allocation remain unexplored. To fill this gap, we examine the impact of cooperative membership on off-farm work decisions of couples engaged in farming, using data collected from 595 banana farmers in China. The recursive bivariate probit model and endogenous-treatment Poisson regression model are employed to address the self-selection bias inherent in cooperative membership. The results show that cooperative membership increases the probability of participating in off-farm work by 38% for husbands and 31% for wives. Having large households reduces the probability of husbands but increases that of wives working off-farm. Cooperative membership is also associated with more time spent on off-farm work and higher earnings for both husbands and wives. Our findings point to the potential of agricultural cooperatives to increase farm couples’ off-farm employment, thus increasing household income and quality of life.     

Women self-help groups and intra-household decision-making in agriculture

This study examines the effect of women-centric agricultural self-help groups (SHGs) on intra-household decision-making in agriculture. Using data collected from an intra-household survey of 815 households, we analyze the effect of women's membership in different types of SHGs on 14 decisions related to farms and households. Specifically, we investigate the discord in decision-making, which is the difference in the perceived decision-making roles of spouses within a household. Our results show that women's participation in SHGs has increased their role in decision-making by 8–13%. However, the effects vary according to the type of intervention and the decision. We found fewer discords in intra-household decision-making in seed SHGs than in micro-finance SHGs. In conclusion, our study suggests that women's engagement in agriculture-based SHG interventions can encourage joint decision-making, but the magnitude of this effect depends on the type of SHG. Development agencies can use this information to design interventions targeted at empowering women through the improvement of the agricultural value chain.     

如何有效提高家庭农场的全要素生产率 ——基于上海市松江区家庭农场数据的实证分析

研究目的：基于上海松江区家庭农场的调查数据计算家庭农场的全要素生产率，离析出影响家庭农场全要素生产率的关键因素，据以提出有针对性的措施。研究方法：Global Malmquist和混合Tobit模型。研究结果：（1）2007—2017年，全部家庭农场全要素生产率指数为1.077 3，其中，纯效率变化指数为0.998 4、技术变化指数为1.075 0、规模效率变化指数为1.007 2；纯粮食种植型家庭农场全要素生产率指数为1.061 9，纯效率变化指数为0.989 6，技术变化指数为1.071 9，规模效率变化指数为1.004 6；其他类型家庭农场全要素生产率指数为1.081 7，其中，纯效率变化指数、技术变化指数和规模效率变化指数分别为1.027 9、1.049 0和1.014 0。（2）总体水平上，农场主是否有农业从业经历、是否有农机驾驶证、土地经营权合同年限、是否购买农机作业正向影响全部家庭农场的全要素生产率，但不同类型家庭农场全要素生产率的影响因素存在差异。研究结论：虽然松江家庭农场全要素生产率增长速度较快，但仍然存在一定的提升空间。为此，需要提高家庭农场劳动力素质，切实保障好家...     

家庭农场资源拼凑对创业获得感的影响机制研究

[目的]为响应国家"创新创业"的号召,支持农村地区经济发展,有效提升家庭农场的资源利用率、创业绩效与创业获得感,从家庭农场资源拼凑角度出发研究创业获得感的影响机制。[方法]文章基于资源拼凑理论和破坏性创新理论,构建包含资源拼凑、创业绩效、创业韧性和创业获得感4个变量在内的研究体系,并采用结构方程模型、Bootstrap中介效应检验、层次回归分析等方法对福建省421份家庭农场调研数据进行实证研究。[结果]资源拼凑的3个子维度中投入拼凑、顾客拼凑、制度拼凑均对创业获得感有显著的正向影响;创业绩效在资源拼凑对创业获得感的影响中起中介作用;创业韧性在创业绩效对创业获得感的影响中具有正向调节作用。[结论]按照影响创业获得感的总效应排序为:顾客拼凑投入拼凑制度拼凑。据此,从提升顾客拼凑能力,积极拓展新兴小众边缘化市场;培养投入拼凑能力,实现既有资源的高效利用与转化;改善制度拼凑能力,降低家庭农场市场准入门槛;增强创业韧性机能,发挥其在创业绩效与创业获得感间的杠杆效应,这四方面提出建议。     

Can microcredit reduce vulnerability to poverty? Evidence from rural Vietnam

Extant literature has extensively explored microcredit's impacts, confirming its essential role in poverty alleviation. However, most studies focus on poverty measures that exclusively emphasize current poverty status without adequately addressing the potential of falling into or remaining in poverty. Furthermore, the role of credit services in helping the poor in rural areas appears to be underexamined in the literature. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigates whether rural microcredit can reduce household vulnerability to poverty. A theoretical framework is developed to capture the mechanism by which microcredit borrowing has a vital role in household businesses and impacts the probability of being poor in the future. The Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey data set from 2008 to 2016 is used to explore this issue. The findings indicate that rural Vietnam's access to microcredit significantly reduces vulnerability to poverty. Moreover, better-off households are seemingly the most effective at using microcredit, whereas the opposite is found among worse-off households. These results are found to be robust using the propensity score matching method.     

Cooperative membership and new technology adoption of family farms: Evidence from China

Various policies have been implemented to encourage the development of family farms and cooperatives in the past decade in China. New technology adoption is a crucial part in promoting the performance of family farms. However, empirical evidence on whether and how cooperatives would facilitate family farms to adopt new technologies remains unclear. To address the gap, this paper examines the impact of family farms’ cooperative membership on new technology adoption (i.e., new varieties, new machinery, new fertilizers, new pesticides, new pest control techniques, new production methods and new management methods). Using novel survey data from 848 family farms in China, and employing both propensity score matching approach and endogenous switching probit model, we find that for family farms, cooperative membership has positive and significant impacts on new technology adoption. When looking into different types of technology, we find that the impacts are larger on the adoption of new methods than new techniques. Moreover, the impacts are larger for family farms with lower operation income and smaller size. The findings provide important insights for policymakers tasked with promoting agricultural technology adoption.     

Impact of information and communication technologies on agricultural households’ welfare in Benin

Information technologies are very important to transform the agricultural sector and improve economic performance. Nevertheless, does the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) improve agricultural households' welfare? To answer this, the study used a nationally representative household survey, the Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) carried out in 2017 in Benin. The survey covered a sample of 15 000 households, however, the analysis focused on the 6502 agricultural households. An endogenous switching regression model was employed to control for selection bias and endogeneity issues. Results indicated that the use of ICT increases households' consumption expenditure by 89.6%. This implies that the use of ICT improves agricultural households' welfare. Other variables that affect agricultural households’ welfare include age, marital status, farm size, access to credit, ownership of livestock, membership in a farmer-based organization, and region of residence. Furthermore, the decision to use ICT in agricultural households depends on the level of education, age, sex, marital status, farm size, access to credit, ownership of livestock, membership in a farmer based organization, and location. These findings suggest that policies that promote the use of ICT are key to improving welfare of agricultural households in Benin. These policies must consider demographic, socio-economic, and institutional characteristics of households.     

Increasing yield and farm income of upland farmers: The case of Panay Island Upland Sustainable Rural Development Project in the Philippines

The 17th Sustainable Development Goal aims to enhance the international cooperation between developed and least-developed countries, and the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program is the largest source of external support in the attainment of this goal. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of the Panay Island Upland Sustainable Rural Development Project (PIU-SRDP), an ODA project supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and the Local Government Units of project municipalities in the Philippines. We focused on Phase II of the PIU-SRDP, which implemented randomly various agriculture-based income-generating projects, aimed at improving the sustainable productivity of low-income farming households. Based on a spatial and intertemporal variations of the project, we exploit a difference-in-difference approach using household-level data. The results suggest that the project significantly increased the rice yield and farm income of beneficiaries. With the opposing views about the true impacts of ODA programs, our study shows evidence of the positive effects of an ODA project on farmer-beneficiaries. This study provides insights for future engagement and implementation of related community-based ODA, agriculture, and rural development projects.     

农户耕地保护补偿意愿及其影响机理研究

研究目的：探讨不同地区农户对耕地保护补偿标准的意愿，并对其影响机理进行理论探讨和实证检验。研究方法：农户调查、计量模型分析。研究结果：农户对耕地保护补偿标准的意愿相对较低，其中经济发达地区的农户对补偿标准的要求要明显高于经济欠发达地区；而在影响农户耕地保护补偿意愿的诸因素中，地区差异、农户受教育水平及农户对征地的意愿发挥着比较显著的作用。研究结论：本研究为推进和落实农户耕地保护的经济补偿机制提供了借鉴与启示。